Better Than That
by Althea M
Summary: Merle puts a mind worm in Glenn's brain and he has doubts about his and Maggie's relationship. Set in Season 4.


Better Than That

By Althea M

Glenn scuffed at the dust in the prison yard and headed to the fence. He needed to kill something. He wanted to slam a knife into the eye of that one-handed redneck. But he needed to be better than that. But it was not easy. In fact, it was hard. The bastard had beaten the crap out of him, turned Maggie over to be molested by that megalomaniac, then threw a walker into the room with him, while he was taped to a chair. But now, he was in the loving embrace of his brother, Daryl, and it was now supposed to be alright, A-Okay, one big happy family.

But the guy just couldn't leave well enough alone. He hadn't figured out that the 'us versus them' was between humankind and walkers and all that pre-apocalypse, racist, bigoted, ignorant crap needed to be swept away.

But that wasn't what really chafed him, and killing that redneck wasn't going to make it go away. He'd met Maggie at the end of the world and sparks flew. It was rough at first; he wanted what she freely offered, but he also wanted to take care of his group. So there had been some friction, but by the time the farm had fallen to the herd of walkers that passed through, they had come together and they had been close ever since. Maggie was a jewel and a warm loving woman.

Glenn saw himself as a 'diamond in the rough'. At least that's what his parents thought of him. They had believed that he had potential which he was not fully realizing. They'd gotten so upset when he told them he was going to skip a semester. He'd already taken care of all of his core requirements, but just wanted to take a break and not have to think about another exam or term paper. Thus, the pizza delivery job; delivered in thirty minutes or less or the pizza is free. He'd never had to give away a pie.

But that redneck doper had hit a sore spot with him, and not for the first time since coming to the prison, when he implied Maggie wouldn't have given him the time of day if the world hadn't ended. He'd said, in his raspy drawl, "A fine looking Southern girl like her had better prospects than some scrawny Chink", and then just stared at Glenn with an air of 'so what you gonna say?'. Carol had been there and before Glenn could launch himself at the redneck that'd had him on height, weight, and brawling experience, she stood in their line of sight and said sharply, "Shut your mouth, Merle! We don't have time for that crap. Go to your cell and take a nap". Then she cut Glenn a look and said more quietly, "Go get some fresh air." Then she went back to what she had been doing. After glaring daggers at each other they had each turned and gone their separate ways.

Glenn found himself at the fence line and, picking up a piece of rebar used for the purpose, began to almost rhythmically impale the walkers along the fence line. He went the entire length of the fence away from the gate. When he reached the corner, he started back the way he had come. With each stroke he visualized Merle's face.

~. ~ .~

Maggie entered the common area where Beth was quietly entertaining baby Judith. "Beth, have you seen Glenn?" she asked while petting the baby's soft blond hair.

Merle, who had wandered back to the common area after Carol had gone to her cell, spoke up. "You mean, 'lover boy'? He got the sniffles and when outside to boo-hoo."

Maggie glared at Merle. She had no love and equally little tolerance for the man and she had not known him as long as Glenn had. She ignored him and his comment but asked her sister is a whisper, "What is he talking about?"

"They had words", Beth whispered. "I heard some of it. Merle said…you guys wouldn't be together if…" Beth trailed off. Maggie did a slow burn, "He doesn't know shit." Beth squeaked, covered Judith's ears, and gave Maggie an admonishing look. Maggie looked at her, mildly contrite. Then, "Where did Glenn go?" Beth shook and her head and shrugged, "He didn't say. Carol barked at Merle and then Glenn just walked out." Maggie rested her hand on Beth shoulder, and then left the common room.

She found him moving toward the corner of the fence. Step. Jab. Withdraw. Step. Jab. Withdraw. As she got closer she could see he'd worked up quite a sweat and if that weren't evidence enough that he'd put in some effort, there were at least four layers of dead outside the fence line and he was racking up layer five. He was so focused on what he was doing, he didn't hear her approach. Maggie prudently announced herself, out of reach. "Glenn", she said in a stage whisper. "Glenn!" she had to speak a bit louder. He startled and turned with an angry look on his face. Then, seeing her face, schooled his features into a sheepish grin and tossed the rebar to the ground for someone else to use. Maggie stepped up, wiped the sweat dripping from his face, and kissed him deeply. "You've been out here for quite a while. Come inside before you pass out."

"I'm fine. I don't want to go inside." Glenn protested but he let her lead him away from the fence line. In the courtyard she sat him down under the canopy and got a ladle of water for him. It was Georgia summer cool, meaning it was lukewarm, but it was water replacement. He hadn't realized just how thirsty he'd become. After he drank a ladle, she brought him another. This one he sipped. She sat with him.

"You did a lot of work down there", she commented. "Yeah, it needed doing", Glenn quipped. "It's going to take a few man-hours to clear them away from the fence." Maggie considered. Glenn looked out to the fence. "Maybe we should leave them there. Maybe they'll act like camouflage, you know, 'Nothing here to see, move along'. Worked for Michonne." Maggie smiled. Then, "Let's go to our cell, get you cleaned up." Glenn looked down at the ground and minutely shook his head. Maggie moved closer to him on the bench. "Tell me what's on your mind, Glenn."

He was quiet for a long moment. "Merle." That almost said it all.

"Beth gave me an idea of what you guys talked about. You know you can't listen to anything he says."

"Unless it's true."

"What, that we would not be together if this hadn't happened?" And she twirled her finger as to encompass the prison and its surrounding area. "Again, you can't listen to anything he says."

"I know part of what he says is true. You'd probably never look twice at a pizza delivery guy. And I wouldn't have had much time to really check you out for counting your change and praying for a tip." Maggie sighed, but Glenn continued, "My folks wanted me to continue with college. They wanted me to get a business degree so that I could start really learning more of the business."

"You never mentioned your folks had a business."

"It never came up. We were busy…getting acquainted." That brought a blush to Maggie's cheeks as she tried to look like she wasn't blushing. "What was your family business?"

Glenn leaned back against the table and looked up, studying the canopy, "My dad imported food products from Korea for resale in the US."

"Oh, he had a 'Mom and Pop'?" remembering the little Asian stores she would pass by in some areas of Atlanta.

Glenn smiled, "No. He provided to 'Mom and Pops'. He would find a product from a company in Korea that would sell well, partner in and fold them under our family name. I think that cut his cost. I hadn't started my business curriculum or I might have understood it better. It boiled down to everything being relabeled under our family name."

"Is that legal?"

"Well, as I understand it, the company would sell its product to us, deliver to our warehouse where it was relabeled and shipped to the states."

"What did he import?"

"The usual; soy sauce, noodles, rice, pepper sauces. If it was on a Korean table in Korea, it was at the client distributors. He supplied stores in Michigan, Texas, Georgia, California, and Washington. The last time we talked about it he had over two hundred clients."

"You would really have been 'somebody'." she said with a smile. Glenn shrugged, "With you, I think I am 'somebody'." Then his smile faded, "Until somebody like Merle starts spewing his trash."

"Well", Maggie drawled sweetly, "I was almost finished with my university studies in business law. I planned to focus on contracts."

"Really?"

"So, it's possible that I would have been looking for a job and was hired by…your father's competitor", she grinned at Glenn's startled expression, "and I would have met you at the negotiation table."

"And the rest would have been history?"

"The 'rest' would have been our future," she said with confidence. "You would have won my heart across the board room table." Maggie's smile faded a bit. "But all of that is gone for now" she went on seriously, "if we survive this world, maybe you'll rebuild the business. Maybe your folks made it?" Glenn shook his head, "I can't live on that hope. You're my hope. You're my future."

Maggie gave him a hug. "Let's see if we can find a quiet spot later." Glenn perked up with that suggestion, but before he could respond, a door squealed open, and then banged shut behind them.

"Well, well, if it ain't the little love birds. Never a more mismatched pair there ever was." Glenn seethed, but neither responded to him.

"Aw, now, did I hurt your little feelings, Glennie? Probably not all that's little about cha", and he guffawed at his own joke. Glenn's face reddened as he stood up to face Merle. Maggie gripped his shoulder. Glenn had already had a close encounter with Merle and he had not yet fully recovered.

"You know Merle," Maggie drawled, "people wouldn't really know what an absolute low-brow you were if you didn't open your mouth. Now, I'd rather Glenn not waste the energy beating the crap out of you because I would prefer he use that energy for something else, a bit more gentle and pleasant to and for me." At that, Glenn's eyes widened and he gave a startled look toward Maggie. "So," Maggie continued, "if you're looking for something to do, or some energy to burn, or to just annoy, make yourself useful and go down to the fence line and put some of those walkers out of their misery."

Merle gaped at her, his mouth hanging open, speechless.

"Well", she said, "get to it."

With that, Maggie took Glenn's hand and coaxed him to follow her. She whispered to him, "After we clean up a bit, let's try out that private area you've been working on setting up for us." Now it was Glenn's turn to gape, "Ho-how did you know? I wanted it to be a surprise." Maggie smiled and said, "Oh, I'm sure I'll be very pleasantly surprised". Glenn grinned, Merle all but forgotten.

Merle mumbled something that sounded like 'smart-alecky little girly-girl' but walked down to the fence line nonetheless, picked up the same tool Glenn had only recently thrown down and began to march the line. It wasn't because she told him to, he told himself. It was purely self-preservation, keeping the fence up. And as he marched the line, repeating Glenn's motions of step, jab, withdraw, step, jab, withdraw, he wondered how he was going to make it in the new world, single-handed. Things were changing just too danged fast.

End


End file.
